Funding

There are a wide range of national and regional funding incentives on offer to productions working in the UK.

For more information on the individual incentives please contact us, or follow the links below.

UK-wide funding

BFI

The BFI Film Fund has a number of funding strands, investing over £26m of Lottery funds per year to support film development, production (including majority and minority co-productions) and distribution activity in the UK.

Film4

Film4 is Channel 4’s film production arm. They invest £15 million annually to develop and finance films for theatrical release in cinemas, working collaboratively with filmmakers and often in partnership with other funders. They prioritise stories with contemporary relevance based around British-led talent or content and only accept proposals via production companies or agents.

Creative Europe

Creative Europe is a European media and culture funding programme, with a budget of €1.46 billion for 2014-2020. Funding support is available for TV programming, single project development and slate project development.

Enterprise Investment Scheme

The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) is a UK Government scheme designed to help smaller unquoted trading companies to raise finance by offering a range of tax reliefs to investors who purchase new shares in those companies. The model has become widely used in film development and production. Investment can be directly into the company, or through and EIS fund.

Regional and national funding

England

The Yorkshire Content Fund

Up to £500k per project

Open to producers wishing to film or establish a base in the region

The Yorkshire Content Fund is a public-private investment fund for the TV, film, video games and digital sectors in Yorkshire and Humber, open to producers either based in Yorkshire or wishing to film or establish a base in the region.

Managed by Screen Yorkshire, the YCF can invest from £10,000 to £500,000 in individual film or TV dramas. We normally invest no more than 10% of the total production budget and our investment must be matched on identical terms with an equivalent amount of private sector investment.

Investments are made on market rate commercial terms, with the intention that investment returns will produce a legacy fund to support content development and production in Yorkshire for many years to come

The West Midlands Production Fund supports the development of the West Midlands as a dynamic, sustainable film and TV drama hub by providing access to finance for start-up SME’s who are active in moving image content production. Previous investments have included Spooks: The Greater Good.

Productions looking for investment must still demonstrate a strong commercial proposition and a positive impact on the region – utilising local cast, crew and services wherever possible and spending a significant portion of the production investment in the area.

Supported through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the WMPF accepts applications from producers already based in Birmingham and the West Midlands as well as from companies looking to bring productions to the region.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Screen Production Funding

Up to £800k per project

Must show a direct economic benefit to the region

Northern Ireland Screen offers production funding in the form of a recoupable loan, or in limited circumstances a grant, together with profit participation. The fund is intended to assist in completing budgets on productions which are almost fully financed. Northern Ireland Screen will not consider a production with less than 65% of its funding already in place.

The Northern Ireland Screen Fund can invest a maximum of £800,000, up to a ceiling of 25% of the overall project budget.

Scotland

Production Growth Fund

£1m available

Deliver significant economic benefit to Scotland

The Production Growth Fund has an allocation of £1,000,000 for the period 2016-17 and is available to qualifying productions in the form of a non-recoupable grant. Its purpose is to help grow the screen production sector, create employment opportunities for Scottish-based crew, encourage the use of Scottish-based production facilities companies and deliver a direct and significant economic benefit to Scotland.

Wales

Media Investment Budget

£30m available

50% of principal photography in Wales

Funding for film and television production is available through the Welsh Government’s Media Investment Budget (MIB). The MIB has £30m available for film and television projects that can shoot 50% of principal photography in Wales. The MIB is available for commercial investment in film and TV productions filming in Wales and incurring Welsh spend.

Investment can consist of debt, gap and equity funding. Debt funding can include cashflowing tax credits and / or pre-sales. Decisions on whether to invest are made on a case-by-case basis.